Pandora's Lunchbox

How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal

From breakfast cereal to frozen pizza to nutrition bars, processed foods are a fundamental part of our diet, accounting for 65% of our nation's yearly calories. Over the past century, technology has transformed the American meal into a chemical-laden smorgasbord of manipulated food products that bear little resemblence to what our grandparents ate. Despite the growing presence of farmers' markets and organic offerings, food additives and chemical preservatives are nearly impossible to avoid, and even the most ostensibly healthy foods contain multisyllabic ingredients with nearly untraceable origins. The far-reaching implications of the industrialization of the food supply that privleges cheap, plentiful, and fast food have been well documented. They are dire. But how did we ever reach the point where 'pink slime' is an acceptable food product? Is anybody regulating what makes it into our food? What, after all, is actually safe to eat?

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Warner dissects even the most "lightly"processed foods to reveal their almost other-worldly origins. Her warm, anecdotal style helps the reader hang in there when the bad news about our diet is exposed.

Well-researched, popular presentation of what we think of as food isn't. Instead, it's a processed product where most nutritional components are physically and chemically destroyed, replaced by incomplete, synthetic supplements from China. Flavor and texture are destroyed too, but artificial additives compensate to fool you into thinking you are eating the real thing. The most common types of food are discussed, including some sold at Whole Foods (not so whole after all). Convenience comes at the expense of what most of us cannot imagine. If this book doesn't alter your shopping habits, nothing will. It will help you make healthier purchases as you read labels and scrutinize ingredients and additives.